Children walking on a railroad track Ajusco, Mexico 1850
The picture depicts a tale of two worlds colliding, the modern and the old. Two poor children walking along a railroad track, one of the engineering marvels that would help Mexico modernize its economy and lift people out of poverty. The modernization of Mexico and its cost happened all over Latin America as governments instituted policies that would benefit some at the expense of a few. Order, then progress was the ideology Latin American elites subscribed to in the 19th century. There was a feeling that Latin America once a land with riches was starting to lag the industrialized nations of the world. According to Dawson “Latin American elites believed that their societies would never prosper, would never become modern if order was not first established. Democracy a messy process everywhere, brought only chaos to regions like Latin America, because the people there were not civilized enough to exercise their democratic rights responsibly.” (115). This belief gave rise to strong governments that would dictate how countries would modernize. Central to modernization were education programs and economic expansion. Economic expansion in the region exploded when nations started exporting the raw materials more industrialized nations depended upon. Slowly but surely a sizable middle class started emerging and society itself started changing too. People flocked into cities that were experiencing growth, new jobs, and whole industries were created to absorb the influx. This economic boom started luring foreign investment which was followed by massive construction projects to further develop the economy. The economic expansion created a middle class which was vital for democracy, but the wealth was disproportionally held by the elites, not everyone benefited from this new system.
Mexico under the control of General Porfirio Diaz is likely the embodiment of the ideology of the elites. His stay in power from 1884 to 1911 was known as el Porfiriato. During el Porfiriato, Mexico underwent rapid modernization and economic growth while at the same curving civil liberties and a free press. General Diaz believed that the people of Mexico were not ready to exercise democracy and that his government needed to have a paternalistic policy. Diaz greatly expanded access to education by building more schools and making it free to attend. Diaz also launched massive civil engineering works to build railroad tracks, dams, and buildings around the country. His regime cracked down on crime by instituting cruel punishments as deterrence. Mexico gained a small but sizable middle class which according to Diaz would be the pillar of democracy. Mexico under Diaz saw great progress but also great misery. People who worked in the commodity crop industry were exploited while the owners kept all the riches of the labor. Also, Diaz instituted a policy of land distribution where the result would be that 1% of the population owned over half the available land in Mexico. While general Diaz instituted several policies that did help the country modernize it also proved to be his undoing. The repression of civil liberties and land distribution proved too unpopular it ignited a violent armed struggle to topple his government.
Works Cited
Dawson, Alexander. Latin America since Independence : A History with Primary Sources, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/baruch/detail.action?docID=1779185.